Invalid bed chair



Aug. 4; 1970 D. R. SALDO ET AL. 3,522,616

INVALID BED CHAIR Filed May 6, 1968 .J 28 [kl @2795; '44 Barfly/F. 6Zz/d0, Mar var/7? [95245 United States Patent Filed May 6, 1968, Ser. No. 726,660 Int. Cl. A47c 21/00 US. Cl. 5-327 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A bed chair for use of invalids to enable them to sit up in bed and to provide access to a patient to allow therapy to be performed on a patient. The bed chair is bottomless and is provided with a back member and a pair of arm members, firmly attached to the back. Ledges are provided on the arm members for removably receiving an adjustable tray or table to help hold the patient or invalid in the chair and enable the practice of some forms of therapy. Supports are provided, secured to the back or arm members, for firmly mounting and securing the bed chair to a side or rail of the bed. A footrest is provided, extending downwardly from the base of the arm members, along the edge of the bed and has an adjustable foot member secured thereto. The patient may sit on the side of the bed, with his feet firmly positioned in the footrest, allowing therapy to be provided on the leg members. The footrest and tray member prevent the patient or invalid from slipping or falling out of the chair, while allowing the comfort of the sitting position. The removable tray and footrest allows the chair to be placed around a helpless invalid without requiring excess movement of the invalid, or the necessity of a large number of attendants.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a bed chair for use with invalids or patients which will support the patient in a sitting position in a bed and which will securely hold the patient in such position without danger of falling or slipping from the chair.

As is well known to those familiar with the nursing profession, many people suffer from disabling sickness which requires many weeks or months in bed. Also many of the older generation become weak and infirm and must spend many long hours in bed. In all such cases it is often desirable from the standpoint of the patients comfort, as well as from the need of therapy, to enable the patient to be placed in a sitting position. In many instances this requires removing the patient from the bed and placing him in a chair. This is a very diflicult task, usually requiring a number of attendants, and often special equipment. Due to the many demands on the time of the attendants in hospital and nursing homes, it is not always possible to place the patient in a sitting position as often as desired, or to place him back in bed when he tires of sitting.

In the past attempts have been made to provide bed chairs for use by invalids or patients to enable them to be placed in a sitting position without being removed from the bed. Many of these devices do not provide sutfi cient support for the patient, are expensive to manufacture, or require a substantial amount of assembly around the patient. There is presently a need for a simple, reliable bed chair which may be readily placed about the patient with little difiiculty, and one which will support the patient without slipping or falling into uncomfortable positions or out of the chair.

Therefore, it is one object of this invention to provide a 3,522,616 Patented Aug. 4, 1970 chair for use in bed to support an invalid in a sitting position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a bed chair which may be readily placed about a patient while in a sitting position in a bed and which will support the patient without danger of falling.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a bed chair which will support a patient in a sitting position on the side of a bed while providing adequate support for the lower limbs thereof.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In carrying out this invention in one form a bed chair is provided which comprises a back member and a pair of side members firmly secured together. Securing means are provided extending from the rear of the chair and having means thereon to firmly secure the bed chair to a portion of the bed, such as a side rail or bar of the bed. A removable, adjustable tray is provided including means to adjustably secure the tray to the arms of the chair. A foot rest is provided having means to removably secure it to the base of the arms and having an adjustable foot holding member thereon.

The invention which is desired to be protected will be fully pointed out and distinctly claimed in the claims appended hereto. However, it is believed that this invention, and the manner in which its objects and advantages are obtained, together with other objects and advantages thereof, will be more fully understood from the following detailed description of a preferred. embodiment thereof, especially when considered in the light of the accompanying drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is an exploded, perspective view of a preferred form of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a top view of the form of the invention shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the form of the invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2;

FIG. 4 is a partial view, with a bed rail shown in section, of a preferred method of securing the bed chair of this invention to a bed;

FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view of a preferred means of securing the bed chair support to the chair;

FIG. 6 is a partial view showing another means for securing the bed chair of this invention to another form of bed;

FIG. 7 is a partial view, with parts in section, showing a preferred means of adjustably securing the foot holding member to the foot rest; and

FIG. 8 is a partial view showing the preferred means of removably securing the foot rest to the bed chair of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT back 12, and the entire assembly covered with padding or the like. Also, as will be understood, the back 12 and arm members 14 and 16 could be molded of a single piece of plastic material, padded, as desired. However construct ed, the bed chair comprises a substantially unitary structure of a back 12 and arms 14 and 16.

Mounted on the back of chair are a pair of supporting and securing members 18 and 20. Securing members 18 and 20 are preferably rigid tube, such as aluminum tubing, and are mounted on the back 12 of bed chair 10. The preferred mounting means is shown in FIG. 5, which shows tube 20 in section, mounted in a ring member 22. Tube 20 may be secured in ring 22 by threading or welding, or such other means as are desired. Ring 22 is provided with a plurality of openings, four being shown in FIG. 5, with screws 24 being used to firmly attach ring 22 and tube 20 to back 12. Of course, the tube 18 is also secured to the back 12 in a similar manner.

When bed chair is used with a hospital type bed, which is provided with sides to prevent a patient from falling out of bed, U-bolts 26 and 28 are provided at the end of each of tubes 18 and 20. This is clearly shown in FIGS. 1, 3 and 4. Plates 30, 32 are provided, fitting over the U-bolts 26, 28, and wing nuts 36 are threaded over the threaded ends of the U-bolts 26, 28, to secure the tubes 18, 20, to a rail 34 of the side of a hospital bed.

Where the bed chair 10 is to be used in the standard type of bed, the securing members 18 and 20 are attached to the bed frame of such bed. This is clearly shown in FIG. 6 of the drawing. As there shown, tube 20 is provided with an L-shaped extension 38 which may be slipped into tube 20 and bolted thereto by wing bolts 40. A U-bolt 28' is provided which fits around a portion of the bed frame 42 and a right-angled portion 44 of the extension 38, as shown. A plate 32 fits over the ends of the U- bolt 28' and wing nuts 36' securely fasten the tube 20 and extension 38 to the bed rail 42. Of course, it will be understood that tube 18 is secured to bed rail 42 in a similar manner. If desired, the extension 38 could be a single member where portion 44 extends along the bed rail 42 to the like extension, similar to extension 38.

In order to aid in holding the patient in the bed chair .10, and provide for various types of therapy, a removable and adjustable tray 46 is provided. Tray 46 fits on the ledge portions 48 and 50 of arms 14 and 16, as clearly appears in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawing. Ledge portions 48 and 50 are provided with a plurality of holes 52, 54, as is best shown in FIG. 1, for adjustably securing tray 46 to chair 10. Wing bolts 56 are provided, fitting through the openings or holes 52, 54 and into threaded, blind holes in tray 46, in the manner indicated in FIG. 3. By this means the tray 46 may be fastened to chair 10 in any desired position with respect to a patient sitting in chair 10.

In order to allow a patient to comfortably sit on the edge of a bed, and to prevent slipping out of chair 10, a removable footrest 58 is provided, having an adjustable foot holding portion 60. The footrest 58 comprises a U-shaped bar member 62 with substantially right angled portions 64, 66 at the open end of U-shaped member 62. Each of ends v64 and 66 are provided with a slot, such as 68 shown in FIG. 8, for securing footrest 58 to chair 10. Wing nuts 70 are provided fitting through slots 68 and threading into blind holes 72 at the base of arms 14 and 16, as is shown in FIG. 1. In this manner footrest 58 may be secured to chair 10 after the chair 10 has been placed around a patient sitting on the edge of a bed. A foot holding portion 60 is adjustably mounted on U- shaped member 62 by means of L-brackets 74 and wing bolts 76. As is best shown in FIG. 7, the L-brackets 74 are bolted to member 62 by wing bolts 76. As will be understood, a plurality of threaded holes 78 are provided on each arm of the U-shaped member 62, in the manner indicated in FIG. 1. Thus the foot holding portion 60 may be readily adjusted along the U-shaped member 62 to fit the patient using the chair 10.

From the above description it is believed that the manner of using the bed chair 10 of this invention will be readily apparent, As will be understood, the patient is placed in a sitting position on the side of a bed. The bed chair 10 is placed around the patient and then securely fastened to the bed, in the manner shown in FIG. 4 or FIG. 6. The tray 46 is then placed over the arms 14 and 16 and adjusted to the patient. Finally the footrest 58 is bolted to bed chair 10 with foot holding portion adjusted to comfortably fit the patient. The patient is securely held in a sitting position without any danger of falling or slipping from the chair. Further, the tray 46 and the footrest 58 provide means for conducting any desired therapy on the patient.

While a particular preferred embodiment of this invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that many changes may be made in various constructional details, or particular fastening means. For example, it will be apparent to those skilled in this art that the tray may be fastened to the arms by other means, such as grooves and slides, using any desired locking means. Further, it will be apparent that cylindrical members may be provided on the arm bases and the footrest could slide into such members and lock in any desired position. Also, it will be apparent that the footrest could be provided with movable portions to support broken legs, or other leg injuries which would prevent bending at the knee. Obviously, these and other changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

What is claimed as new and which it is desired to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A bed chair for invalids comprising:

(a) a substantially unitary back and arm members,

open at the bottom (1) said arm members being provided with ledge portions,

(b) rigid securing members fastened to said back,

(1) said securing members having means at the ends thereof for fastening said rigid securing members to a portion of a bed,

(c) an adjustable tray member,

(1) means for removably and adjustably securing said tray member to said ledge portions of said arms, and

(d) a removable footrest.

( 1) said removable rest comprising a U-sha-ped member,

(2) means for removably securing said foot rest to said arms,

(3) a foot holding portion adjustably mounted on said footrest.

2. A bed chair for invalids as claimed in claim 1 in which said back and arm members comprise separate members secured together to form a substantially unitary member.

3. A bed chair for invalids as claimed in claim 2 in which said means for securing said tray member to said arms comprises a plurality of holes in each of said arms and blind holes in the bottom of said tray members with means fitting through selected ones of said arm holes and secured in said blind holes.

4. A bed chair for invalids as claimed in claim 1 in which said rigid securing means includes L-shaped mem bers for fastening said members to a bed rail.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,529,350 11/1950 Posz 5327 2,802,220 8/ 1957' Locke 5327 3,335,434- 8/1967 Gamon 5327 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 5332 

